Carrie Fisher wins 2018 Grammy for memoir, plus full winners' list

"Star Wars" actress Carrie Fisher on Sunday won a Grammy for her memoir, a posthumous honour for a star whose cultural impact was broad but who earned few awards

Credit: 123rf.com/buzzfuss
Credit: 123rf.com/buzzfuss
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Carrie Fisher

Carrie Fisher won for Best Spoken Word Album for "The Princess Diarist," the audiobook version of her memoir which came out weeks before she died in December 2016 at age 60 of a sudden cardiac arrest.

"The Princess Diarist" made headlines thanks to Fisher's revelation that she had an affair with the married Harrison Ford after they met filming the original "Star Wars" in 1977.

In the cult classic film, she played Princess Leia and he was the itinerant smuggler Han Solo, who forms an unexpected relationship with her.

Fisher, who also wrote novels, entered into a relationship with the folk rock legend Paul Simon after becoming known for "Star Wars." Her life was also marked by struggles with depression and addiction.

While Princess Leia and "Star Wars" became iconic parts of US film culture, Fisher received little critical recognition and was never nominated for an Oscar.

She made a final appearance on screen in the latest film in the franchise, "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," which came out last month.

Rap and hip-hop stole the night

 

A post shared by Recording Academy / GRAMMYs (@recordingacademy) on Jan 28, 2018 at 5:50pm PST

The Grammys was opened by rapper Kendrick Lamar, who then went on to win the first award, 'Best Rap/Sung Performance' for his track 'Loyalty'. To present him the award, was the ever vivacious Rihanna, who congratulated him on stage: 'You deserve this, man." So much love! Kendrick also went on to win the coveted award of the night, 'Best Rap Album' for his work on 'Damn'.

Was this year's Grammys finally acknowledging rap music outright? It seems so, despite hip-hop suffering from an uneven support from the Recording Academy; turns out, only two rap albums won 'Album of The Year' award in the past history. Not oly that, Snoop was also nominated 17 times but never did bring home a gramaphone. So did rapper 50 Cent who received 15 nominations, and despite winning one, he refused to attend the show. While mogul Jay-Z was leading with eight nominations at this year's Grammys, he lost to Kendrick for most of the coveted awards. During his moment when accepting an 'icon award', Jay-Z lamented:

"I realize like, man, art is super subjective and everybody is doing their best and the Academy, they are human like we are. We can pretend we don't care, but we really care. We care because we see the most incredible artists stand on that stage and we aspire to be there."

Was he opening to the fact that the Academy is now doing right? Perhaps. But the Academy has much more work to do, as evident with the lack of female representation as well.

The lack of female artists representation

 

A post shared by Kwiat (@kwiatdiamonds) on Jan 28, 2018 at 6:08pm PST

Only Lorde was represented in the 'Album of The Year' category alongside her fellow male musicians. All the other artists were offered solo performance act for the live show, except for Lorde, who was asked to perform alongside other acts. Lorde politely declined, and so did Jay-Z. Shouldn't the invitation be made fairly to all nominees?

Lorde's mum even tweeted a picture of an article which was featured in the New York Times, with a caption: "This says it all. Of the 899 people to be nominated for Grammy awards in the past six years, only 9% were women." Ouch. Not only that, we saw the usual likes of Lady Gaga, Shakira, Cardi B, Julie Michaels, but surely there are more deserving artists out there too?

this says it all -@nytimes January 26, 2018 pic.twitter.com/R3YdHwieXf

— Sonja Yelich (@sonjayelich1) January 26, 2018

Full winners' list

 

A post shared by Recording Academy / GRAMMYs (@recordingacademy) on Jan 28, 2018 at 6:09pm PST

Did your favourite artists win the awards? Here is the full list to take note of:

Best New Artist: Alessia Cara

Best Pop Solo Performance: “Shape of You” — Ed Sheeran

Best Pop Duo/Group Performance: “Feel It Still” — Portugal. The Man

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album: “Tony Bennett Celebrates 90” — Various Artists; Dae Bennett, producer

Best Pop Vocal Album: “÷” — Ed Sheeran

Best Dance Recording: “Tonite” — LCD Soundsystem

Best Dance/Electronic Album: “3-D The Catalogue” — Kraftwerk

Best Contemporary Instrumental Album: “Prototype” — Jeff Lorber Fusion

Best Rock Performance: “You Want It Darker” — Leonard Cohen

Best Metal Performance: “Sultan’s Curse” — Mastodon

Best Rock Song: “Run” — Foo Fighters

Best Rock Album: “A Deeper Understanding” — The War on Drugs

Best Alternative Music Album: “Sleep Well Beast” — The National

Best R&B Performance: “That’s What I Like” — Bruno Mars

Best Traditional R&B Performance: “Redbone” — Childish Gambino

Best R&B Song: “That’s What I Like” — Christopher Brody Brown, James Fauntleroy, Philip Lawrence, Bruno Mars, Ray Charles McCullough II, Jeremy Reeves, Ray Romulus and Jonathan Yip, songwriters (Bruno Mars)

Best Urban Contemporary Album: “Starboy” — The Weeknd

Best R&B Album: “24K Magic” — Bruno Mars

Best Rap Performance: “HUMBLE.” — Kendrick Lamar

Best Rap/Sung Performance: “LOYALTY.” — Kendrick Lamar featuring Rihanna

Best Rap Song: “HUMBLE.” — Duckworth, Asheton Hogan and M. Williams II, songwriters (Kendrick Lamar)

Best Rap Album: “DAMN.” — Kendrick Lamar

Best Country Solo Performance: “Either Way” — Chris Stapleton

Best Country Duo/Group Performance: “Better Man” — Little Big Town

Best Country Song: “Broken Halos” — Mike Henderson and Chris Stapleton (Chris Stapleton)

Best New Age Album: “Dancing on Water” — Peter Kater

Best Improvised Jazz Solo: “Miles Beyond” — John McLaughlin, soloist

Best Jazz Vocal Album: “Dreams and Daggers” — Cécile McLorin Salvant

Best Jazz Instrumental Album: “Rebirth” — Billy Childs

Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album: “Bringin’ It” — Christian McBride Big Band

Best Latin Jazz Album: “Jazz Tango” — Pablo Ziegler Trio

Best Gospel Performance/Song: “Never Have to Be Alone” — CeCe Winans

Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song: “What a Beautiful Name” — Hillsong Worship

Best Gospel Album: “Let Them Fall in Love” — CeCe Winans

Best Contemporary Christian Music Album: “Chain Breaker” — Zach Williams

Best Roots Gospel Album: “Sing It Now: Songs of Faith & Hope” — Reba McEntire

Best Latin Pop Album: “El Dorado” — Shakira

Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album: “Residente” — Residente

Best Regional Mexican Music Album (Including Tejano): “Arriero Somos Versiones Acústicas” — Aida Cuevas

Best Tropical Latin Album: “Salsa Big Band” — Rubén Blades con Roberto Delgado y Orquesta

Best American Roots Performance: “Killer Diller Blues” — Alabama Shakes

Best American Roots Song: “If We Were Vampires” — Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

Best Americana Album: “The Nashville Sound” — Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

Best Bluegrass Album: tie, “Laws of Gravity” — The Infamous Stringdusters and “All the Rage — In Concert Volume One” — Rhonda Vincent and the Rage

Best Traditional Blues Album: “Blue & Lonesome” — The Rolling Stones

Best Contemporary Blues Album: “TajMo” — Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’

Best Folk Album: “Mental Illness” — Aimee Mann

Best Regional Roots Music Album: “Kalenda” — Lost Bayou Ramblers

Best Reggae Album: “Stony Hill” — Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley

Best World Music Album: “Shaka Zulu Revisited: 30th Anniversary Celebration” — Ladysmith Black Mambazo

Best Children’s Album: “Feel What U Feel” — Lisa Loeb

Best Spoken Word Album (Includes Poetry, Audio Books and Storytelling): “The Princess Diarist” — Carrie Fisher

Best Musical Theater Album: “Dear Evan Hansen” — Ben Platt, principal soloist; Alex Lacamoire, Stacey Mindich, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, producers; Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, composers/lyricists (original Broadway cast recording)

Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media: “La La Land” — Various Artists

Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media: “La La Land” — Justin Hurwitz, composer

Best Song Written for Visual Media: “How Far I’ll Go” — Lin-Manuel Miranda, songwriter (Auli’i Cravalho)

Best Instrumental Composition: “Three Revolutions” — Arturo O’Farrill, composer (Arturo O’Farrill and Chucho Valdés)

Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella: “Escapades for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra From ‘Catch Me If You Can’” — John Williams, arranger (John Williams)

Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals: “Putin” — Randy Newman, arranger (Randy Newman)

Best Recording Package: tie, “Pure Comedy (Deluxe Edition)” — Sasha Barr, Ed Steed and Josh Tillman, art directors (Father John Misty) and “El Orisha de la Rosa” — Claudio Roncoli and Cactus Taller, art directors (Magín Díaz)

Best Boxed or Special Limited-Edition Package: “The Voyager Golden Record: 40th Anniversary Edition” — Lawrence Azerrad, Timothy Daly and David Pescovitz, art directors (Various Artists)

Best Album Notes: “Live at the Whisky A Go Go: The Complete Recordings” — Lynell George, writer (Otis Redding)

Best Historical Album: “Leonard Bernstein — The Composer” — Robert Russ, compilation producer; Martin Kistner and Andreas K. Meyer, mastering engineers (Leonard Bernstein)

Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical: “24K Magic” — Serban Ghenea, John Hanes and Charles Moniz, engineers; Tom Coyne, mastering engineer (Bruno Mars)

Producer of the Year, Non-Classical: Greg Kurstin

Best Remixed Recording: “You Move (Latroit Remix)” — Dennis White, remixer (Depeche Mode)

Best Surround Sound Album: “Early Americans” — Jim Anderson, surround mix engineer; Darcy Proper, surround mastering engineer; Jim Anderson and Jane Ira Bloom, surround producers (Jane Ira Bloom)

Best Engineered Album, Classical: “Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5; Barber: Adagio” — Mark Donahue, engineer (Manfred Honeck and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra)

Producer of the Year, Classical: David Frost

Best Orchestral Performance: “Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5; Barber: Adagio” — Manfred Honeck, conductor (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra)

Best Opera Recording: “Berg: Wozzeck” — Hans Graf, conductor; Anne Schwanewilms and Roman Trekel; Hans Graf and Brad Sayles, producers (Houston Symphony; Chorus of Students and Alumni, Shepherd School of Music, Rice University and Houston Grand Opera Children’s Chorus)

Best Choral Performance: “Bryars: The Fifth Century” — Donald Nally, conductor (PRISM Quartet and The Crossing)

Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance: “Death & the Maiden” — Patricia Kopatchinskaja and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra

Best Classical Instrumental Solo: “Transcendental” — Daniil Trifonov

Best Classical Solo Vocal Album: “Crazy Girl Crazy” — Barbara Hannigan (Ludwig Orchestra)

Best Classical Compendium: “Higdon: All Things Majestic, Viola Concerto & Oboe Concerto” — Giancarlo Guerrero, conductor; Tim Handley, producer

Best Contemporary Classical Composition: “Viola Concerto” — Jennifer Higdon, composer (Roberto Díaz, Giancarlo Guerrero and Nashville Symphony)

Best Music Video: “HUMBLE.” — Kendrick Lamar

Best Music Film: “The Defiant Ones” — Various Artists

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